[sdiy] Are there technical reasons that people use 1/8" jacks?

[David G. Dixon]

I think the main reason for using 1/8" jacks and plugs is to save space on
the panel.  One of our synth-diy colleagues in Vancouver (Dave Leith) has
stuffed an entire modular's worth of functionality into a panel about 0.5m
square by using 1/8" jacks with lots of normalled connections.  They are a
little bit fussy for my taste, but I must admit they are a whole lot easier
to pull out than 1/4" jacks (my biceps have developed noticeably since I
start playing with my modular).  Indeed, I typically go in and bend all the
tongues on my Neutrik jacks out a little bit to loosen them up.

> There are the obvious questions of compatibility with existing
> modules, and the questions of cost (1/4" jack related parts cost more
> and so do bigger panels). But setting those aside.. is there anything
> inherently wrong with the 1/4" jack? Does it perhaps have too much
> capacitance for some applications? The 1/4" jacks don't wear out
> quicker, they're more resilient, so I'm wondering if there's any
> application where the 1/8" performs technically better.